Foster Care Uncovered

Sarah Anderson & Louise Allen
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  • Documentary

The Truth from the Frontline. No filter, no spin, no hiding. The stories behind the headlines, the truths behind the system - exposing, confronting, and moving foster care forward. Hosted by Sarah Anderson, CEO of FosterWiki & Co-founder of the NFCQ and Louise Allen, Bestselling Author & Founder of Spark Sisterhood. All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

  1. 2d ago

    They Sold You Out!

    They Sold You Out! You’re just the Cash Cow This week, The Fostering Network meets with the National Union of Professional Foster Carers, then goes straight to the DfE to dob them in. So what exactly was said, why did they dob the union in, and whose side are they really on? Then we look at the money, appointments, and cosy connections in the fostering establishment, and ask who benefits while carers are left in despair. In the second half, we turn to Allostatic Load, the cumulative toll that chronic stress takes on the human body and mind. What happens when the demands of fostering never let up, recovery becomes impossible, and the system fails to recognise the damage? Because the question isn’t simply whether foster carers can cope. It’s what the system is doing to them. Useful Links JOIN FOSTERWIKI TODAY: https://fosterwiki.com/register/ NFCQ: http://education.nfcq.co.uk Allostatic Load in Foster Carers: https://fosterwiki.com/wiki/allostatic-load-in-foster-carers/ Carer Hotline Contact Emails: info@fosterwiki.com louise@louise-allen.com If you'd like to chat about this episode or any of our past episodes, feel free to reach out to us at info@fosterwiki.com. We’d love to hear from you! All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body. Clarification: In a previous episode, during our discussion about the selection of foster carers to the government's Fostering Advisory Board and their connections with established sector organisations, we suggested that one of the appointed foster carers might be a trustee of the Fostering Network. We have since established that this is not the case and are happy to clarify that point. We are, however, currently seeking clarification from this individual as to how they were originally selected for the Advisory Board, including whether their appointment was facilitated through the Fostering Network or another route. That information has not yet been forthcoming, but as soon as it is, we will update listeners when further clarification is available.

    They Sold You Out!

  2. Oct 25

    The Gloves Are Off...

    The Gloves Are Off...Is the old order cracking? This week, Sarah and Louise ask whether the old order in fostering is finally beginning to crack. From the Government’s 10,000-carer recruitment campaign to the growing row over who represents foster carers, we examine the spin, the power plays and the rise of independent carer-led voices challenging the status quo. On the Naughty Step, we take on a recruitment story that sparked an extraordinary response from foster carers, questioning the way fostering is being sold to the public, the misleading focus on money and the failure to put the realities of children’s lives at the centre of the story. Plus, in Carer Hotline, we explore the frustrations of inconsistent supervision and ever-changing social workers. And Sarah introduces Allostatic Load, the cumulative cost of prolonged stress, and what happens when the people holding the system together are given too little support to recover. Perhaps the question isn’t why carers struggle to cope, but what we’re asking them to carry. Useful Links JOIN FOSTERWIKI TODAY: https://fosterwiki.com/register/ NFCQ: http://education.nfcq.co.uk Allostatic Load in Foster Carers: https://fosterwiki.com/wiki/allostatic-load-in-foster-carers/ Carer Hotline Contact Emails: info@fosterwiki.com louise@louise-allen.com If you'd like to chat about this episode or any of our past episodes, feel free to reach out to us at info@fosterwiki.com. We’d love to hear from you! All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

    The Gloves Are Off...

  3. Oct 15

    The Big Lie: The Spin, Promises & Propaganda

    The Big Lie: The Spin, Promises & Propaganda Behind the Latest Government Launch This week, Sarah and Louise take apart Josh MacAlister’s grand launch of the Government’s national fostering recruitment campaign. Millions for recruitment, promises of 10,000 new places, glossy videos and a Minister claiming to have rewritten a rulebook that has no rules. They examine the furious reaction from existing carers, the millions spent on recruitment initiatives that have failed to deliver, the conspicuous absence of independent foster carer-led organisations from the launch, and the uncomfortable question nobody in Westminster seems keen to answer: why recruit more carers while driving experienced ones out? And that claim about rewriting the ‘rule’ book? We have a few things to say about that. More spin, more slogans, more money, no substance? Useful Links JOIN FOSTERWIKI TODAY: https://fosterwiki.com/register/ NFCQ: http://education.nfcq.co.uk Carer Hotline Contact Emails: info@fosterwiki.com louise@louise-allen.com If you'd like to chat about this episode or any of our past episodes, feel free to reach out to us at info@fosterwiki.com. We’d love to hear from you! All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

    The Big Lie: The Spin, Promises & Propaganda

  4. Oct 7

    Breaking News! The 3.4m funding scandal they can’t spin

    Breaking News! The 3.4m funding scandal they can’t spin This week, Sarah and Louise get into the breaking news the fostering sector really needs to talk about: the Government’s evaluation of the North East Regional Fostering Recruitment Hub, the Pathfinder meant to show everyone else how regional recruitment should work. Except the independent evaluation found no statistically significant evidence that it actually increased recruitment compared with areas without a Hub. So naturally… the answer appears to be more Hubs. Sarah is furious, Louise is listening, and there’s a very large “WE TOLD YOU SO” hanging over this episode. Then someone very influential lands on the Naughty Step. We’re not saying who just yet… but let’s just say they have a rather important role in children’s services, a 1,253-word response to the new Fostering Quality Standards, and Sarah has been reading between the lines. There’s also a Carer Hotline dilemma about transport, school and who actually carries the practical burden when a placement doesn’t work logistically. And we ask a rather uncomfortable question: when children say they want less professional intrusion, do we actually listen, or do we only like children having a voice when they say what we want to hear? You probably won’t agree with everything Sarah says. But you’ll definitely want to hear this one. Useful Links JOIN FOSTERWIKI TODAY https://fosterwiki.com/register/ NFCQ: http://education.nfcq.co.uk Carer Hotline Contact Emails: info@fosterwiki.com louise@louise-allen.com If you'd like to chat about this episode or any of our past episodes, feel free to reach out to us at info@fosterwiki.com. We’d love to hear from you! All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

    Breaking News! The 3.4m funding scandal they can’t spin

  5. Sep 25

    Are you a ‘Difficult’ Carer?

    Are you a ‘Difficult’ Carer? - Speak Up for Children. Get Labelled. Get Targeted. This week Sarah and Louise are talking about ‘difficult’ foster carers, the ones who ask awkward questions, challenge decisions and dare to advocate for children. But what happens when speaking up gets you labelled ‘difficult’? And why does that word carry rather more weight than it might appear? We also look at the latest free school meals controversy, ask uncomfortable questions about how foster carers are represented, and explore what happens when the reality of fostering looks very different from the glossy version presented to prospective carers. Plus, there’s the usual mix of fostering news, questionable sector language, and a trip to the Naughty Step for those who really should know better. Useful Links JOIN FOSTERWIKI TODAY https://fosterwiki.com/register/ NFCQ: http://education.nfcq.co.uk Carer Hotline Contact Emails: info@fosterwiki.com louise@louise-allen.com If you'd like to chat about this episode or any of our past episodes, feel free to reach out to us at info@fosterwiki.com. We’d love to hear from you! All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

    Are you a ‘Difficult’ Carer?

  6. Sep 4

    You're “Just” a Foster Carer

    You're “Just” a Foster Carer & Revolving Door Failed Leadership; They Move Around. So Does the Damage. You’re “JUST” a foster carer. A word that tells you an awful lot about how foster carers are still viewed by parts of the care system. This week Sarah and Louise unpack the “just” that diminishes foster carers, the weaponisation of experience, and why carers are expected to behave like professionals while routinely being treated as though their knowledge, qualifications and expertise somehow count for less. But first, we’re looking at 112 care leavers who died last year, and asking the uncomfortable question: how many more reviews do we need before someone actually changes the system that keeps producing the same outcomes? Then we turn our attention to the revolving door of children’s services leadership. Leaders move from one authority to another, new strategies are announced, new improvement plans appear, and the language changes… but what happens to accountability when the people who made the decisions simply move on? Plus, the Naughty Step returns with a first-ever three-way tie for some truly spectacular examples of recruitment marketing that manages to make fostering look easy, fun and apparently requiring little more than a spare room. Useful Links JOIN FOSTERWIKI TODAY https://fosterwiki.com/register/ NFCQ: http://education.nfcq.co.uk Carer Hotline Contact Emails: info@fosterwiki.com louise@louise-allen.com If you'd like to chat about this episode or any of our past episodes, feel free to reach out to us at info@fosterwiki.com. We’d love to hear from you! All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

    You're “Just” a Foster Carer

  7. Sep 1

    Big Brother or Accountability? CCTV, Body Cams

    Big Brother or Accountability? CCTV, Body Cams and Someone’s Back on the Naughty Step This week, Sarah and Louise are back with the cynicism dial turned all the way up, and, for the first time, Sarah and Louise find themselves firmly on opposite sides of one of the biggest debates in fostering right now, and let’s just say, it gets lively! Do Sarah and Louise fall out or disagree agreeably? Westminster’s latest response to care leavers being pushed off a “dangerous cliff edge” to another round of reports, handbooks, carefully crafted quotes and political promises, they ask the increasingly uncomfortable question: is anyone actually fixing anything, or are we just getting better at talking about it? Somerset Council take the converted Naughty Step Award for a second time, with a Best Value Notice (no, that's not an award!) and a £7 million “transformation” programme, overseen by the very people who got them into this mess in the first place, not a resignation or sacking in sight. And can you really transform fostering by simply asking foster carers to do more? And finally, cameras. Should social workers wear body cams? Should foster carers have cameras in their homes? Sarah is firmly on the fence, but perhaps the more important question is why so many people now feel they need a recording device to prove what actually happened. When trust in the system has deteriorated to this point, are cameras the answer, or are they evidence of a much bigger problem? Useful Links JOIN FOSTERWIKI TODAY https://fosterwiki.com/register/ https://www.itv.com/news/2026-07-03/council-staff-told-to-delay-access-to-send-support-whistleblower-claims If you'd like to chat about this episode or any of our past episodes, feel free to reach out to us at info@fosterwiki.com. We’d love to hear from you! All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

    Big Brother or Accountability? CCTV, Body Cams

  8. Aug 17

    The Rules Don’t Apply to Everyone

    The Rules Don’t Apply to Everyone: Unchecked Power – Part 2 This week on Foster Care Uncovered, Sarah and Louise go from the supposedly boring world of new fostering standards to one of the most uncomfortable questions in children’s social care: what happens to the truth when one side holds most of the power? Can power create a culture where the truth becomes… flexible? Not necessarily because anyone is deliberately lying, but because when you hold the authority, do you become unconsciously more confident in your own version of events? What happens when conversations are remembered differently, records are disputed, explanations are dismissed, and the person with the professional authority gets to decide which version carries the most weight? We also get stuck into the new draft Fostering Quality Standards and ask whether they really change anything, whether foster carers are genuinely being recognised as professional partners, and why standards seem to demand so much from carers while accountability for services can feel rather more optional. Does power change how we see the truth? And when the people with the most authority are also the people judging whether they got it right, who is checking them? This one gets uncomfortable, and that’s exactly where Foster Care Uncovered likes to be. Useful Links JOIN FOSTERWIKI TODAY https://fosterwiki.com/register/ If you'd like to chat about this episode or any of our past episodes, feel free to reach out to us at info@fosterwiki.com. We’d love to hear from you! All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

    The Rules Don’t Apply to Everyone
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About

The Truth from the Frontline. No filter, no spin, no hiding. The stories behind the headlines, the truths behind the system - exposing, confronting, and moving foster care forward. Hosted by Sarah Anderson, CEO of FosterWiki & Co-founder of the NFCQ and Louise Allen, Bestselling Author & Founder of Spark Sisterhood. All views shared in this podcast reflect the personal opinions of the hosts alone. They are not intended as factual assertions about any person or organisation, nor do they represent the views of any employer or professional body.

Information

  • Creator
    Sarah Anderson & Louise Allen
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    37
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © FosterWiki 2025
  • Show Website
    Foster Care Uncovered

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